Greg asks:

> Pop quiz: who built the first hospital?

I haven't a clue. Quite likely, no one does.

However I can say that the English word "ambulance" is derived from the Latin
word "ambulans," which was the term used for the guys who ran out (ambulated)
to pick up the injured gladiators and chariot drivers, as best they could.

Similarly, the Latin word "hospitalis" (meaning "of a guest") is the root for
our words such as "hospitality" and "hospice." The moral mandates to care for
the sick and injured far predates either Rome or Christianity however and is
a basic human response to suffering.

But none of this is say that no one holds the evolution of Christianity in
higher regard than I do. There have been three great events in the Western
World, the origination of Greek philosophy, the birth of the morality inherent to
Christianity, with its doctrine of tolerance and charity, and the democracy
movement that began with the American Revolution. None of them were born in a
vacuum however. They were all products of their times -- and they would all have
eventually occurred on their own, although their names and places would
clearly have been different.

Wirt Atmar

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